By Fred J. Robledo
If the Bishop Amat High School girls soccer team has visions of winning a CIF-Southern Section Division 3 title, it can look directly at its defense, specifically sweeper Jessie Gener and stopper Alyssa Cabral, whose chemistry is growing with each shutout.
Visiting La Salle had its chances in Tuesday’s Del Rey League game that could have forced a three-way tie for first, but it didn’t have a lot of quality chances, firing off just six shots and only a couple that forced Amat goalkeeper Nicole Ragano to work up a sweat.
Bishop Amat’s Selena Quezada and Yazmin Montoya ended the drama late, scoring in the 73rd and 76th minutes respectively to give Amat breathing room in a 3-0 victory.
But more importantly it was Amat’s fifth straight shutout — a sign that the Division’s second-ranked team could be hitting its stride as the playoffs near.

“This is fate,” he said. “Like I was supposed to be here. This is a good fit, not only for myself, but for the school as well.”

Undoubtedly so.

The search for La Salle’s new athletic director was an exhaustive process and, after the school narrowed the field of more than 250 applicants to six finalists, Harris emerged as the “best choice to lead La Salle athletics into the future.”

“He is exactly who we need as athletic director, working to ensure that every Lancer team succeeds on the field and in the classroom, as well as making sure our programs operate with respect and integrity,” La Salle President Richard Gray said in a statement.

Harris, a former Muir football and track star, held the same position at Campbell Hall in North Hollywood for a decade and served as the school’s head football coach for seven years and head track coach for five.

Bob Kohorst, who serves on the board of trustees at La Salle and served as chairman of the athletic director’s search committee, said the school was amazed at the flood of quality applicants. Among them were current Division I athletic directors, a professional women’s basketball coach in New Zealand and a headmaster in Egypt, both of whom had Southern California ties.

“We were hopeful we’d have one or two quality candidates,” said Kohorst, a 1971 La Salle graduate who had two sons recently graduate from the school. “I think we had 10 to 15 very good candidates. The selection was very difficult.”

Muir at one point was No. 1 in Division 5AA. It dropped a spot last week, but remained second behind Flintridge Prep in Monday’s new poll. The Mustangs are coming off a 54-51 loss to Pasadena in a game in which they led by as many as 16 points.

“They know we’re not supposed to lose four straight,” Smalley said. “We had teams beat. We beat (Crescenta Valley) by 18 earlier and Glendale by double digits (both in tournament play), so they know they’re supposed to beat those teams (come league).

“Developing consistency with young teams is where we’re at.”

The objective, however, is clear.

“Our motivation is we have to rally in the second half to get a playoff spot,” Smalley said. “Because once we’re in anything can happen.”

The facts are this: La Salle’s Antoine Peterson hasn’t had much success on the football field as the Lancers’ head football coach. La Salle finished 0-10 last season and are a combined 6-25 in Peterson’s three seasons as head coach since taking over Ealar Gallagher. Those numbers undoubtedly would make any coach at any level wonder about his job security, but not Peterson.

Anthony Harris, the newly-hired athletic director at La Salle, said Monday in an interview that he gave Peterson his full support. In fact, Harris will join Peterson’s staff as offensive coordinator. And that’s just the beginning.

“We haven’t had a lot of success but we’re getting ready to do something special,” Peterson said.

Harris, who will takeover duties from John Matheus on July 1, said he felt comfortable offering his support despite the Lancers finishing 0-10 last season.

“As a new athletic director coming in I knew he was here,” Harris siad, “but I didn’t want to be a part of the decision on whether coach stayed or went, because I didn’t have an opportunity to evaluate him.

“Then when I met with him after getting the position I felt comfortable supporting him as the athletic director and helping the program as the offensive coordinator. I feel like i can mentor him. I feel like I can find a dynamite staff that’s going to help him take a step back from being defensive coordinator and focus on being a head coach, and getting quality guys as football coaches to really get it done for him.”

La Salle returns 19 from last year’s team, including 15 from the JV team that won the league championship. Also returning are the eight sophomores who started last season.

Peterson said he’ll bring “four or five new guys” and added “we’ll keep five guys who have been loyal to me.” Peterson went on to say that Harris wanted him to be the defensive coordinator.

“But I really didn’t want to do that,” Peterson explained. “He understood where I was coming from. I really want to oversee the program. I don’t want to be tied down as far as calling the game because I have to take you back to last season. I was really never in the flow of the game. I like to oversee everything and run it the way it’s supposed to be run.”

Peterson said the school is close on bringing the new coaches. As for having Harris on board, Peterson said it was a natural fit.

“There’s is a trust factor with Harris on the offensive side of the ball,” Peterson said. “I see big things coming. I guess you have to go through things to become something.”

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